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Monthly Archives: September 2012

I love making pizza. I love it. It’s just a great all around cooking experience. Ingredients that I love. Flour, yeast, a little cheese (or not), tomatoes, chiles, arugula, carmelized onions, everything delicious - and tactile – you get to knead - but not for so long that you get bored. It can be a group experience or a solitary endeavor and of course pizza is so delicious. I love pizza. That’s all I can say. So when Alan and I first started talking about getting an outdoor wood-burning pizza oven I really wanted it so badly that I offered to break my birthday, Valentine’s day, Christmas, and Anniversary gift rule - which is strictly enforced in my home. I (foolishly) suggested that perhaps the outdoor wood-burning pizza...

These are the kind of brownies that always elicit the following comment “Your mom makes the BEST brownies.” I think they’re really great too however I cannot take credit for the recipe. It came from my very good, great neighbor Lisa Zimble – years ago – and I’ve been making them ever since. With nuts, without nuts, in smaller pans, in bigger pans, in rain or shine – the best brownie ever…. So good they should be in the Hammacher Schlemmer catalogue (remember that one? It had 'the best of. . .' you name it) BROWNIES (from Lisa Zimble) pre-heat oven to 350° butter a 9-inch square pan I typically double this recipe and make one pan with and one pan without nuts Ingredients: 3-ounces unsweetened...

So like I said in my last post – I made Nico TWO cakes for his birthday. The second one was this carrot cake. Very basic – most basic. No raisins. No currants. No pineapple. And I don’t even do the walnuts. Although I haven’t made this cake since I was in my 20s – honest – I remembered it’s pure, simple, straight-forward deliciousness and I loved that it was made with oil and not butter and at the time that I learned the recipe that really impressed me – no idea why but it did. I got this recipe from my college friend Mary Miller. I have lost touch with her – no idea how to find her. I knew her when I lived in San Francisco and we used to hang out. She was great. She came from a big Catholic family of mostly...

It was Nico’s birthday and he came home from San Francisco to celebrate with his folks. They (Pablo and Mary) invited us to celebrate with them. I said I’d make the cake (I love making cake) and so I did. I made Orange Cake with Apricot Cream – an ancient Cook’s magazine recipe (1987 – honestly) – one of my non-chocolate favorites. It’s a lovely cake if you don’t over-cook it and the apricot whipped cream frosting is really delicious. So I told Nico that I had made it and then he said he was in the process of calling 10 of his friends and also he didn’t sound completely convinced that it sounded delicious. Well obviously there wasn’t going to be enough cake if 10 of Nico’s friends and his parent’s friends...

So, like I said, we were in Oregon, at Susy’s and Barry’s place on the Rogue River and they have this fabulous garden and I mean that – it’s truly fabulous and abundant and absolutely full of gorgeous vegetables and fruits. Let me tell you what’s in there – I just have to. First, there is celery when you walk in through the gate (although it’s gone to seed but it’s beautiful) and around the edges there are grapes growing up the fence and cucumbers on the ground - a couple different kinds. There are scores of tomatoes – heirlooms of many varieties – oh so many tomatoes and an amazing abundance of color, size, shape, and flavor. There are at least four different kinds of onions, white, yellow (sweet and regular), and...

It’s a fishing term – “the Salmon are running.” I think that’s what they were doing when we were in Oregon. On the night that I cooked dinner I asked Barry if he could get the freshest, wildest, local fish for me to cook. He brought Salmon and I cooked it. Fresh, wild, huge, delicious, Salmon. So pretty. Years and years ago when I was still a fish-eater, my friend Mary Hartzell made this recipe one night when we were over at her house for dinner. It has since become a family favorite – for special occasions. SALMON Ingredients: Preheat over to 300 degrees A big Salmon filet. You want the freshest, largest, wildest Salmon you can find. Never mind how much it costs…. Trust me on this. Two onions either Wala wala...

We just got back from a vacation to Oregon. Wow. It was perfect and I’m telling you – those Oregonians love their trees. It’s something to behold. The mountains are blanketed with a deep, sumptuous, thick, green velvet. Dense, dark, evocative, beautiful, trees. Wide, wild, tree-lined rivers, jumping fish, big birds, mountains, and blackberries, blackberries, blackberries, everywhere…. I’m in love with Oregon, in summer. Our trip started out with a few days on the Rogue River with friends. The whole experience there is perfect. The home we stayed at is gorgeous – a log mansion you could call it. Our hosts were warm, welcoming and generous in so many ways. There is so much room in their...

The Gourmandise School of Cooking
This is a small and wonderfully lovely cooking school in Santa Monica. Located on the top floor of Santa Monica Place. Classes include everything from cooking baking, frosting, bread baking, to much more exotic fare. Teachers are delightful.